4Media - Play all of your media in XBMC remotely in any web browser over the internet
#1
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Hello fellow xbmc users. New forum user, longtime xbmc users here Smile First of all thank you for a great forum! Next, let's tell you about what we have created.

This project was started to bring the media from your xbmc library to any remote computer. (Windows, Mac, or Linux). The need for the application was strong when not at home, but still wanted to access all the content at home. Not just remotely controll it, but to play it locally. Movies, TV Shows, Pictures or Music. The application was designed to play all.

The project is divided into three:

The extender
- is installed on the xbmc machine itself. It's a simple php web projected hosted on apache.
- reads the xbmc database and presents the content to the player with the use of xml.
- updates the extenders external address to the HQ so that if change of the IP occours, the player can still find the extender


The player
- Runs locally on the remote computer.
- Uses the users choice of video player when movies or TV shows are played.
- Plays the music directly in the application with a queue and basic controls. (Volume, Stop, Pause, Play, Next)
- Shows pictures directly in the application


The HQ
- Simple webservice hosted by the application creators to manage dynamic ip's of the extenders
- Provide updates for the extender and player
- Database for the accounts for use with the software

All three parts are required at current version.

The project is being used by four friends. Hence the name of the projects creators: Four. The player was recently tested from germany to norway and playing of 720p content went without a glitch. Other senarios we use the application for is: Playing music at work, Viewing the last episode of your show when away on travel, or the girlfriend watching her favorite tv show on her laptop when you want the TV all to yourself Big Grin

It's important to stress that the project does nothing with the orignal content. The content is directly sent from the extender to the player - nothing else is involved. The given internet speed at the player and extender then sets the limit of what content that can be played.

We want to give something back to this great community so our question is simple, do you want the it? If the community wants it we will try our best to polish out some more bugs and release it free for all. We have added some screenshots so that you can see for yourself what the application looks like. Any questions? Feel free to ask or give us some feedback. Thank you! Smile

*****
11 october: We really see this working well on a slate/pad formfactor. We have decided to keep working on the project and hopfully release it as soon as the first slates come out. We also want to wait until latest release of XBMC is done to make sure it works perfectly with that one. Thank you all for your interest! We will update this thread as things move along Smile

-four

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#2
..can't think of a real use for it immiediately, but i'm sure i will.
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#3
Looks cool. I'd definitely use it on a networked computer where I just want to use vlc while coding or something Smile. Exciting that all these web interfaces are popping up with the new addon framework Smile
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#4
@Eldesi

hehe, well, it all depends on how you use your xbmc I guess. For me personally the application is good when i'm on my laptop and the girlfriend is taking up the TV. I could always browse the usb disk as a network share but I find it more easy and better to browse what the XBMC library has stored for me with the app. I also see this working well on a windows slate in bed when that hopefully gets out Smile
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#5
weldon Wrote:Looks cool. I'd definitely use it on a networked computer where I just want to use vlc while coding or something Smile. Exciting that all these web interfaces are popping up with the new addon framework Smile


Sweet! The application is made in Adobe AIR, so it actually pretends to be a real app on your computer. The reason for that is to get access to launch native programs, like VLC or WMP. The rest is pretty much php and apache presenting the files to the remote player over HTTP.
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#6
Big Grin 
Looks awesome! I can definitely use this program when I'm out travelling, on my tablet in bed and on my laptop wherever I go to watch series and movies! Big Grin

Hope my fellow XBMC users agree so it could be published! Smile
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#7
This looks really great. Love the interface!
Couple of questions:

Is the extender bundled with it's own server or can it be installed on an already running server?

What's the required speed (up/down) for streaming 720p content?

Is there a built-in mediaplayer or do i have to use my own?

And most important of all: When will it be released?
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#8
Dude, this would be absolutely awesome. Just a few weeks ago, I tried setting up a media server, so I could watch movies and shows from my library when traveling, but gave up after a few tries as I didn't seem to get good results. It would be soooo cool when XBMC had an add-on feature like this. Definitely a +1 on "Release this hottie!".
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#9
iDude Wrote:This looks really great. Love the interface!
- Awesome! Thank you Smile

iDude Wrote:Is the extender bundled with it's own server or can it be installed on an already running server?
- The plan for the extender is to install on your already running XBMC machine. It will require a few things, but nothing to fancy. Apache, PHP, PHP+Sqlite (and then some) - Nothing that one single line can't install for you on Ubuntu. After the installation there is a config-file that will need some parameters and you should be up and running.

iDude Wrote:What's the required speed (up/down) for streaming 720p content?
- That will depend on what kind of bitrate the movie/tvshow is. The files I have tested when at work (Don't tell my boss) consumes about 5-7Mbit of up/down. Same thing when my friend testet from Germany.

iDude Wrote:Is there a built-in mediaplayer or do i have to use my own?
- There is a built-in media player for music and pictures. The rest you provide your own player for. I would recommend VLC as default player, and wmp as AVI player. The reason for this is some problems VLC have with avi over HTTP. This is all settings in the application that you can modify.


iDude Wrote:And most important of all: When will it be released?
- Well, it would seem that a few people thinks it's worth releasing. We will make up our minds as soon as possible. This interest is pushing in the right direction Smile So thank you!
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#10
Mikesch Wrote:Dude, this would be absolutely awesome. Just a few weeks ago, I tried setting up a media server, so I could watch movies and shows from my library when traveling, but gave up after a few tries as I didn't seem to get good results. It would be soooo cool when XBMC had an add-on feature like this. Definitely a +1 on "Release this hottie!".

+1 from Mikesch, noted. And thank you Smile
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#11
Cool looking project.

How are the files being served? Via HTTP? VLC as a server?

I'm curious on how difficult it would be to add transcoding. I only have a 3Mbit upload at home, and get all my content in high def, so without transcoding, it's not very useful for me.

I'd also love to use this for sending video to my Android phone...
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#12
Adam B. Wrote:How are the files being served? Via HTTP? VLC as a server?

Right now it's just HTTP. I did try some transcoding with VLC as the server, but the CPU was not powerful enough to keep the stream coming. I only have a small Asrock so it's not that powerful. I was trying to transcode to flash tho, might take less cpu if I only change bitrate to limit bandwidth. I might just give it one more try Smile Thanks for the feedback!
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#13
four Wrote:Right now it's just HTTP. I did try some transcoding with VLC as the server, but the CPU was not powerful enough to keep the stream coming. I only have a small Asrock so it's not that powerful. I was trying to transcode to flash tho, might take less cpu if I only change bitrate to limit bandwidth. I might just give it one more try Smile Thanks for the feedback!

If you release the code, I'd be happy to try it as well. Smile
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#14
We really see this working well on a slate/pad formfactor. We have decided to keep working on the project and hopfully release it as soon as the first slates come out. We also want to wait until latest release of XBMC is done to make sure it works perfectly with that one. Thank you all for your interest! We will update this thread as things move along Smile
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#15
Hi, this project looks very promising, can you give us an update on the progress?

thanks Frank
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4Media - Play all of your media in XBMC remotely in any web browser over the internet2